Dozens of roads are now being closed to traffic for up to three hours a week
as part of a nationwide drive to bring back 'play streets'

It is an image which appears to belong to a bygone era: young children playing together in streets free from traffic. But this is not the 1930s, this is modern Britain.

Dozens of roads across the country are closing to cars to allow children to play safely in the street after school.

It is part of a nationwide drive to bring back “play streets”, once a common sight until their decline in the 1980s. The new “play streets” are designated by councils following requests from residents and, so far, 24 local authorities have signed up, with many more expected to follow suit. It is estimated there are now more than 80 designated play streets in England and Wales.

Naomi Fuller, from Playing Out - a not for profit company which helps residents set up play streets - said: “The streets just came alive with scooting and cycling and hopscotch and chalk.”

Play streets were first introduced in 1935 by Leslie Hore-Belisha, the former Liberal transport minister, who also introduced Belisha beacons.

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The Street Playgrounds Act, which received Royal Assent in 1938, allowed local authorities to close residential streets to traffic between 8am and sunset and followed concern about the number of children being killed in road accidents, with 12,000 dying between 1924 and 1933.

By 1963, there were 750 “play streets” in England and Wales, identified by signs at either end. However, as car ownership increased and parked cars left little space for play, they became all but forgotten by the 1980s, campaigners say.

Boys playing cards on pavement in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton in 1978 (ALAMY)

In 2011, a group of parents in Bristol, concerned about their children’s health and their lack of outside play, decided to use legislation designed for street parties to apply to have their street closed to cars.

Later that year, Bristol City Council introduced a policy whereby residents could apply to have their street closed to traffic for up to three hours a week for play.

The idea spread and, following a grant from the Department of Health, the parents who set up the first play street established Playing Out. It now offers support and advice to parents wanting to set up their own play streets in other parts of the country.

There are now 40 play streets in Bristol alone and the concept has spread to other council areas, including Brighton, Hertfordshire, Oxford, Reading, Sussex and Norwich. Usually streets are closed for a couple of hours a week or month, with residents acting as stewards at either end to divert traffic.

Following their resurgence, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)has now awarded a £58,000 grant to a project designed to tell the history of play streets.

The money has been given toLondon Play – a charity which works to improve play for children in the capital. It will work with the Museum of London to tell the story of six “play streets” in the capital.

Young people and their parents will interview older residents about their childhood memories and playing in the street. The information will then be used to form part of an exhibition, due to open later this year.

Paul Hocker, development manager at London Play, said: “Play streets were introduced originally amid fears over road safety and child fatalities - now it is over childhood obesity. Children are leading more passive sedentary lives, staring at screens more. Play is a great way of getting children exercising without knowing it.”

He added: “People of my age, in their mid-forties, enjoyed getting out and about. They are asking now, 'why is modern childhood is so different to my childhood?

"I learned games like Knock Down Ginger and Red Rover on the streets from other children, not adults. Those games have been lost and I think this project is an opportunity to revive some of those games that have been lost along the way.”

Dame Jenny Abramsky, HLF chairman, said: “This project recalls a time when children playing in urban residential streets was a commonplace sight. A social history, forgotten by some and unknown to many, will be reinvigorated helping to span the generations in the several local communities involved.”